Desert Media Foundation is fiscally sponsored by Arts Connection – The Arts Council of San Bernardino County. Arts Connection is a 501(c)(3) organization. Tax ID # 46-3088038.
MISSION STATEMENT
Desert Media Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting, educating, and elevating audiovisual artists, filmmakers, and creative minds whose work benefits their communities.
Through education, community events, workshops, mentorship, and professional-level support, Desert Media Foundation facilitates artists’ growth and connects communities by supporting creators in their process while offering audiences engaging work to enjoy.
Desert Media Foundation develops programs and initiatives that provide artists and content creators with platforms to create, distribute, promote, share, and exhibit their work.
PROGRAMS
Using workforce development, media tools, and creativity as its core, Desert Media Foundation provides:
- grants and micro-grants for independent filmmakers, through the Joshua Tree Film Office
- apprenticeship, internship, and professional training opportunities, as well as mentorship for emerging creatives, students, and underserved audiovisual creators
- educational support and informational toolkits to advance initiatives and careers
- media opportunities, from creation to promotion, designed to elevate artists, share the stories of storytellers, and support career growth and recognition
- workshops, hands-on field practice, and laboratory or event-based learning
- Screening opportunities, starting with supporting the Yucca Valley Film Festival
BACKSTORY
The Hi-Desert and the Morongo Basin are rural areas, some unincorporated, that have historically been significantly underserved in terms of media and audiovisual infrastructure.
While Joshua Tree National Park, Pioneertown, and the surrounding desert landscapes have been used by Hollywood and independent producers for decades (from Star Trek to modern music videos), there has never been a structure capable of consistently supporting the area’s attractiveness at a professional level while keeping environmental preservation and community integrity in mind.
On the media side, the support offered by the Desert Media Foundation can have a significant impact in our area, where traditional media no longer carry the influence they once did, and where no organization has fully leveraged the opportunities provided by social media tools at scale.
At the same time, the artist community in and around Joshua Tree has grown exponentially, representing a unique local workforce that remains largely unorganized.
The Desert Media Foundation aims to become a central structure that connects these elements and establishes the groundwork for these underserved rural areas to benefit from their own strengths: linking art, tourism, and economic development for broad community impact.
Joshua Tree Film Office 